Improvement in the manufacture of the metallic parts of fire-arms



" UNITED STATES 1. L I I ISAAC JBz, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO UNITED PAT-EN Orricn;

NICKEL COMPANY.

IMPROVEMENT IN THE MANUFACTURE or THE METALLIC PARTS OF FlRE-ARMSQ- i h Specification forming part of Letters-Patent No. 98,006, dated December 21,1869.

- To all'whom it may 0mm.- Y r Be it known that I, ISAAC ADAMS, Jr., of

Boston, in, 'the- State of Massachusetts, have invented a new and useful Improvement in the Manufacture of the Metallic. Parts of Fire- Arms, such as guns, muskets, rifles, carbines,

revolvers, and pistols; and I do hereby dei clare the following to be a correct description Yofitlie'san e. p v

- The metallic parts of fire-arms of all kinds are usually made of iron or steel, and easily oxidize if exposed. to the moisture of the at mosphere," and particularly to the moisture arising from the changes ot'temperature caused by firing and this oxidizationimpairs their beauty and their value foruse. To protect ,theseparts'from ox-ldization, and to increase "their beauty, it has been the practice to make certain of them of solid silver, or to cover the iron or steel parts with a coating of silver;

but the solid silver is expensive and wholly unfittedfor certain parts of fire-arms on account of its softness; and, even when put on as a coating to the iron or steel, it is so soft that it will wear but. a short time, and, besides, the silver isliable to be tarnished by the sulphurous' gases of the burnt powder. My invention 'or'discovery consists in covering the metallic portions of small-arms with a compact, coherent, tenacious, and flexible coating of nickel; andI find that the advantages of such a coating over the plain iron or steel surface, and over the same plated with silver or made of solid silver, are'many. The nickel coating is quite as hard as the steel; it does not oxidize; it protects the steel or iron from oxidization; it takes a polish quite equal to the high polish of hard steel; its color is nearly the same as that of silver; it ismuch cheaper than silver. But the great and peculiar value of a nickel coating as applied to metallic parts of fire-arms is found in the fact that it is not tarnished or otherwise afiected by the sulphurous gases of the burnt powder, which so badly tarnish'silver, iron, and steel. The nickel coatin is, therefore, particularly valuable as applled to the tube, nipple, and parts adjoining, which are especially heated by the explosion,

and, from their changes of temperature, most liable to oxidization, and, from their position,

tenacious,- and flexible coating of nickel, for

theipurposes specified.

The above specification of mysaid invention signed and witnessed at New York this 7th day of October, A. D. 1869.

. ISAAC ADAMS, JR.

Witnesses:

F. A. MARDEN, E. A. QUINTARD. 

